


more than beautiful

by Catstycam



Series: quiet dangerous girls [1]
Category: TOLKIEN J. R. R. - Works & Related Fandoms, The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types, The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Feminist Themes, Gen, One Shot, POV Second Person, Patriarchy, This is pretty weird, Vague, Why Did I Write This?, and picking your battles, arwen and luthien, arwen not being the pretty quiet obedient daughter, glorfindel is an enabler, glorfindel's training centre for girls who sneak out at night, how would she have felt, powerful girls, the power of silence, thinking about arwen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-04
Updated: 2020-09-04
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:55:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26284543
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Catstycam/pseuds/Catstycam
Summary: dolls do not sneak out at night to learn to use a sword.*arwen undómiel, her beauty, and her rebellion.
Relationships: Arwen Undómiel & Elrond Peredhel, Arwen Undómiel & Glorfindel
Series: quiet dangerous girls [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1928044
Comments: 15
Kudos: 29





	more than beautiful

When you are very young, you realize why your grandfather’s eyes fill with tears when he looks at you. He tries to hide it, of course, but you see. You see everything.

Cutting your hair is not perhaps the most sensible response to this situation. You do it anyway, hack it off at your neck with a knife you stole from the armory, sawing through the intricate braids that are woven tightly around your head. Beads tumble around your feet like silver rain. Your mother finds you standing in front of a mirror, staring at your shorn head and wondering if Luthien ever hated her beauty. She holds you in her arms and tries not to let you see her cry. The tears drop on the top of your head all the same. 

Elrond smiles sadly when he sees you. Nobody speaks of it until it has all grown back out again.

The Lay of Leithian is sung often in the Hall of Fire, and every time it is all eyes turn to you. Listening to the adventures of brave Luthien, strong Luthien, Luthien who was not told to  _ sit quiet  _ or  _ swords are not for girls. _

Her cage was the great oak tree. Yours is your name, Arwen,  _ noble lady.  _ Weaving a rope from your own hair will not take away your beauty. It will not make you any less of someone who must be protected. 

_ The very likeness of Luthien!  _ say all those elves who have never seen Luthien. You are defined by other people. You are a daughter of Elrond, sister to Elladan and Elrohir. Nobody ever thinks of you as yourself, as someone separate from your beauty, as any less than a noble lady to be hidden away and put on display like a pretty piece of artwork, a doll, except dolls do not try and tear their hair out or cry for hours to make their eyes go red. Dolls do not sneak out at night to learn to use a sword or run into Glorfindel one night when they are practicing. He looks at you, his eyes sad and lost in memory, then he corrects your stance and tells you how to hold it properly.

One night you ask him why he is doing this, looking into his eyes that burn with the same strange light that is in her grandmother’s. He smiles.  _ I have known princesses,  _ he says.  _ None of them were ruined by being able to defend themselves. _

You think of the princesses Glorfindel has known. Aredhel Ar-Feniel was a warrior and a wanderer and great in her own right. But she is also a cautionary tale, now: if you do not listen to your brother you will come to a bad end. If you dare to break your cage you will be captured and stolen. Princesses should not fight. Look at what happened when we let them.

You think of Idril, who stayed in her cage and did as she was told. Idril was obedient, was ladylike, was a  _ good girl,  _ was the person who built a secret passage in defiance of her father. Idril fought for her son with a sword and knew how to use it. 

You think that perhaps choosing when to fight is a power, and other people’s expectations are a weapon.

**Author's Note:**

> i love arwen. i'm just absolutely fascinated by her character- she's luthien reborn, but is there ever anything other than her beauty? wrote this while putting off writing the fourth chapter of this monstrous glorthelion fic i'm writing.  
> the title comes from rupi kaur's poem you are more than beautiful, because i love it and frankly it gives me so many arwen vibes.  
> i want to apologize to all the women  
> i have called pretty.  
> before i’ve called them intelligent or brave.  
> i am sorry i made it sound as though  
> something as simple as what you’re born with  
> is the most you have to be proud of  
> when your spirit has crushed mountains  
> from now on i will say things like, you are resilient  
> or, you are extraordinary.  
> not because i don’t think you’re pretty.  
> but because you are so much more than that
> 
> catstycam xx


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